The home’s owner is furniture designer Hélène (pronounced EY-len) Aumont, and it’s a rustic yet cultured 1940s farmhouse. She lived there at the time with her now-ex-husband Patrick, and a few darling offspring. Of course, they were making cookies when I arrived.

My envy was painful. The objects of desire:

• Extensive gravel pathways. Ah, the sounds of crunching!

• Lavender everywhere

• Horses and a barn

• A living room that feels like a French apartment

• Several covered porches

• The white kitchen with a marble countertop fashioned from an antique pool table top

Ironically, as I review photos of Helene’s home, I realize I’m going in that same direction of a white and luminescent kitchen.

My current thinking: Don’t get so caught up envy (on those rare occasions I experience it) and feel ashamed of it and try to shut it down. Rather, ask myself:

What is so beguiling about this place? And how can I create some of this for myself?

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